The government expects to spend just over 8 hundred and 30  billion dollars for the upcoming fiscal year.  This was announced by Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke in parliament Thursday.

He said that although recurrent expenditure is higher, the overall expenditure is lower than for the current fiscal year.

Meantime, the Bank of Jamaica, BOJ  will be partially funding a new aid programme, dubbed the Social and Economic Recovery and Vaccination Programme, SERVE, to the tune of  33  billion dollars.  The SERVE programme will cost the government about 60 billion dollars overall.

Dr Clarke said the SERVE programme will support citizens and businesses, as well as infrastructure projects that are aimed at stimulating Jamaica’s recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.

He was speaking in parliament as he tabled the Estimates of Expenditure for the 2021 / 2022 fiscal year. Dr Clarke said the BOJ’s 33 billion dollars is from a one-off dividend, that will become available in the first week of April.

He explained that the SERVE Jamaica programme, will among other things, finance the country’s COVID response, to include vaccination.

The government will allocate the funds, under the SERVE Jamaica Programme to make the attainment of herd immunity in a single fiscal year fiscally feasible. The rest is up to the availability of supply, the logistics and distribution.

Dr Clarke said the programme will also target economic activity relating to road projects.

The SERVE programme will also assist with support for the vulnerable, as well as internet access in schools.